Kat

“Tom, what the hell was he doing!”

She put him on speaker so she could keep looking at the picture. It was a large corkboard, with pictures and diagrams of Crossroads Convenience and the surrounding area, multiple pictures of what appeared to be ghostly apparitions, and worst of all, her aunt.

Her face was all over the board. Editorials torn from magazines, group pictures of her and her staff with all the other faces crossed off. Worst of all at the center of the board, was a candid shot of her through her living room window.

“Tom, tell me what the fuck is going on?”

He sighed on the other end.

“Rodney was living in a storage locker…” Tom said, his voice echoing within the confined space. “I don’t know why…I didn’t think things were this bad.”

Kat folded her arms.

“I’m more worried about the pictures. Was he stalking my aunt?”

“I don’t know, but it looks like he was obsessed with her. I’m sending you another picture.”

Kat waiting nervously before another file arrived. Tom had accidentally sent her a video clip.

Playing it, there was a list of theories on a scrap of paper pinned up beside her aunt. It was a list with some of the options scratched out.

What is it: aliens, possession, haunting, outsider.

Why is it happening: a pact, unfinished business, government conspiracy, coincidence, I did this?

How can I stop it: Sophie, do what it wants, exorcism, the daughter?

“He was trying to figure out what’s happening at the convenience store,” Kat said, rubbing her arm. “He thinks the place is haunted…and he thinks my aunt did it.

“Yeah, he was losing it…long before he tore the store up.”

Kat looked around the room.

“Hey Tom, can you come to the store? I’d like to talk this through.”

She didn’t want to seem weak or needy, but the idea that she’d be spending the rest of the night alone —

“Yes, of course. I’ll lock this crate back up and head right over.”

A nervous smile crossed Kat’s face. Other boys might have made fun of her, made her feel bad about being scared.

And maybe they’d be right. It’s your job. Is he going to hang out with you every night?

She brushed the thought aside.

“Thanks Tom, I’ll pop a pizza into the oven. It should be done when you get here.”

“Oh, that sounds amazing. Mind throwing some pine-“

“Pineapple and sundried tomatoes, I know.”

She smiled to herself, hoping somewhere out in the night that he was doing the same.

Within 30 minutes, he was sitting beside her, propped up on the counter of the Pizza Stack, a medium pineapple and sundried tomato steaming between them. She was a plain cheese pizza girl, but always flexible. Especially for the kind of guy who didn’t make fun of her for being scared.

“I really don’t know where to start,” Tom said, chewing a bite of pizza.

“It’s a lot, so start from the beginning. How did you end up at the storage locker?”

“That trucker, the regular, he recognized the matchbox Rodney left behind. Some seedy bar, and the owner there told me where Rodney used to live.”

“Do you think that’s normal?” Kat asked, covering her mouth with her hand to hide the chewing.

“What?”

“Do you think other people are living like that?”

Naivety doesn’t make you less privileged, it just makes you more insufferable.

“I don’t know. I hope not, but it’s getting pretty rough out there. Even the Island is seeing a rent increase.”

Kat grabbed another slice before thinking twice and setting it back down.

Two was enough.

“I feel bad for Rodney…but that doesn’t excuse him stalking my aunt.”

“Of course, it just, well… puts some of it in perspective.”

“How?” Kat asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“Well, he was clearly struggling, and your aunt is rich AF. So putting her at the center of some paranoid delusion, it just kind of makes sense.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Still crazy though!”

Kat wasn’t so sure.

“So, I’m sure you heard…but Lucy and I had a bit of a fight.”

Tom scratched the back of his neck.

“Yeah, we all know…not that anyone is gossiping or anything.”

Sure they’re not.

“I don’t care about any of that,” Kat said, lying through her teeth. “But I’m not so sure everyone here believes the standard story.”

“That the place isn’t haunted?”

“Yeah, Lucy sure as hell doesn’t.”

Tom laughed.

“She’s into that stuff, though.”

“Clearly, but everyone here has a story. Random noises, the feeling of being watched…”

“Are you sure you want to go down this road?” Tom asked, leaning close. “I’ve had some weird experiences too, but to keep working here, I just…”

Kat moved closer.

“Just what?”

“I ignore them…the feelings I mean,” he said, turning away. “It’s the only way to stay sane working the night shift.”

Kat sighed and rubbed her tired eyes.

“Right, but what if I can’t?”

Tom grabbed another slice.

“Mind if I?”

Kat waved a hand.

“I’m done, thanks.”

He devoured half the slice in one bite.

“Sorry, guess I was hungry,” He said, meeting her eyes. “If you can’t ignore it, then we better do something about it.”

Her cheeks burned.

“Yeah, we’ll have to do something about this…”

She adjusted herself, moving to reach out for his hand.

“We should probably start by telling your aunt.”

That broke it; the daze slipping over Kat’s mind.

“What? Tell her what?”

“About Rodney. Maybe not the supernatural bits you seem to suspect, but maybe anything the police should know.”

“Yes…right.” She said, tamping down the frustration. “I’ll ask her about it in tonight’s email. Not the wider group, of course. I’ll leave you out though, just in case.”

“In case what?”

“In case the police don’t like the idea that you broke into someone’s storage locker.”

“Tom laughed, fair enough,” he said, smiling at her. “Spooky stalkers aside, this is fun.”

“Yeah, we should try doing this outside of the store sometime.”

Tom nodded.

“We should, hard to do with overlapping shifts though.”

He wasn’t wrong, just not very inventive.

“Yeah, you’re not wrong.”

Clammy hands back in her pockets, Kat was relieved she had stopped herself. He wasn’t ready yet.

The boy’s a fucking idiot.Yeah, he’s lucky he’s cute.

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